Cyclists on A roads

[stevieb15]

Plenty of intolerance on display in this thread. Fortunately, I'm off to live Switzerland where cyclists are part of the culture, and cycling is a far more pleasant experience.

hopefully the cycling fraternity will take note

 

[renault12ts]

The one at the top at least looks clear of obstacles. The only problem I do see with it is that the cycle lane is on one side of the road,each direction should have it's own.
The bottom one,although looks ok,appears to be nowhere near a road,no much good when you are trying to get there.
Spinal,all joking aside,that is another serious problem. People drive in them constantly or park their cars in them. It is a hopeless situation.

There are two types of cycle lane, those bounded by solid white lines where it is forbidden to drive or park a car, and those bounded by broken white lines where it is not.

 

[Frankie]

Doesn't it defeat the object of a cycle lane if people can park in one with a broken line?
If this is legal, I wasn't aware of it. What a waste of money painting the line at all.

 

[renault12ts]

Doesn't it defeat the object of a cycle lane if people can park in one with a broken line?
If this is legal, I wasn't aware of it. What a waste of money painting the line at all.

Probably. But since most cycle lanes are about fulfilling EU obligations rather than about the cyclist then ...

BTW its in the Highway Code.

 

[oldcro]

There are two types of cycle lane, those bounded by solid white lines where it is forbidden to drive or park a car, and those bounded by broken white lines where it is not.

You should have added "unless it is unavoidable"

 

[renault12ts]

Yes.

http://www.direct.gov.uk/prod_consu...n/@motor/documents/digitalasset/dg_191924.pdf

 

[219]

The one at the top at least looks clear of obstacles. The only problem I do see with it is that the cycle lane is on one side of the road,each direction should have it's own.
The bottom one,although looks ok,appears to be nowhere near a road,no much good when you are trying to get there.
Spinal,all joking aside,that is another serious problem. People drive in them constantly or park their cars in them. It is a hopeless situation.

The top one is alongside the old A77 which runs from Glasgow at least as far as Fenwick . When the old A77 was replaced by the M77 , the old three lane single carriageway was turned into two lanes plus cycleway - it would have been much more costly to make two cycleways of half the width and makes little difference . The other one is a disused railway line and runs alongside a main road , never more than 100 yds or so from the road and with frequent access points - as the railway once did , the cycleway links the same towns and villages as the road does . We have an extensive network of such routes here in West Scotland and can travel fair distances without going on roads- the surfaces are all excellent too .

 

[Dieselman]

the surfaces are all excellent too .

That is often the problem with cycle lanes, the top surface may appear OK because it's regular pavement tarmac, but they aren't smooth enough for fast cycling.
A road has to conform to set standards for smoothness, a pavement doesn't and on a short wheelbase rigid frame bike this is very uncomfortable. It's not the bumps, it's the undulations causing forward backward rocking motion.

The converted road lane you show looks fine, the railway path almost certainly will be lower standard and less comfortable to ride on fast.

 

[219]

I've ridden on both of them , admittedly at a leisurely pace , and both seemed fine to me . Surprisingly , the A77 one in the top picture was freshly resurfaced at the time of conversion , rather than just using the old road surface . I'm pretty sure it stops at Fenwick ( I haven't cycled all the way down there ) , but then starts again further South and continues to the coast - need to check sometime .

I don't know how old the converted railway track is , but the Tarmac is in pretty good condition - there are quite a few of these routes roundabout here , although I have only cycled a couple of them .

The towpath of the Forth & Clyde Canal is another popular route I have yet to try .

 

[Frankie]

I guess cycle lanes are probably great if you are out for a leisurely ride. Most of the network is not designed with commuting in mind though so pretty much useless.

But still,going right back to the start,there obviously needs to be stricter regulations on driving as people seem to forget the basics very easily. People need to slow down round bends etc Could be road works a deer,anything.

 

[219]

Yes , one of the most basic rules of driving any type of vehicle is always being able to stop in the distance you can see to be clear .

If everyone did that at all times there would be far fewer crashes !

 

[Spinal]

But still,going right back to the start,there obviously needs to be stricter regulations on driving as people seem to forget the basics very easily. People need to slow down round bends etc Could be road works a deer,anything.

Mmmm.... venison.... Had a fantastic wild boar pappardelle al ragu last night... wonder if I could make some venison lasagne... Let me know if you hit a deer

Joking aside - I fully agree! That said, I might also add that it's not just cars that need to pay more attention, but lorries, buses and bicycles as well...

M.

 

[camerafodder]

I am a driving instructor. A police one!

Are you really? Having seen your odd departure and read your somewhat emotional/reactionary replies to stuff on here I would be concerned if you were a 'police' instructor!

 

[Airbag]

Just found this thread. I own two cars and three bikes. When I'm in the car, there's always an idiot cyclist weaving around, and when I'm on the bike there's always some psychopathic bully trying to edge me out of the way.

But, aggressive attitudes towards any other road users, especially those that can be seriously injured, simply can't be tolerated: These attitudes breed and become accepted social behaviour, as the first posts, then people die. See the road rage thread: not one Merc owner likes it when they are subjected to intimidation, but yell when it happens to them.

Roads are paid for out of general taxation, not by Merc (or Audi) owners, and everyone has a right to use them, including pedestrians, your wife, your kids, your aunt. Road Tax, as you all know, was abolished by Churchill, around 1937.

VED is a tax on vehicle ownership. It doesn't directly provide for any road maintenance. Car drivers have no more rights on roads than cyclists, but have a lot more responsibility. If you overtake a cyclist turning right, as a white van did to me yesterday, it's going to haunt you forever if you kill someone.

" there are too many lunatics on the road and the cyclist riding in the dark in black is Darwinism waiting to be proven. "

They don't live long if hit by a Merc, though, do they? And you don't want one smeared down your bonnet. You'd never survive the legal bills. I nearly hit a black-clad, light-free cyclist on the Isle of Wight one night. He was on an A road, with traffic doing 60 mph past him. No lights, no reflectors.

Despite that, smile at cyclists, and be nice to them. The pretty ones often smile back. Give them a wide berth. If you lose your licence by hitting one, you'll be the one who ends up riding a bike to work.

 

[Benzmanc]

Being a trucker cyclists are the Bain of my life. Try following one down an A road for a mile or so then when there is finally a safe place to overtake you think thank god for that. Further up same road you have to stop at a set of lights only for the cyclist to squeeze up your inside and then run the red light.

I was in Cambridge yesterday delivering a wide load and as we know that place is full of cyclists, I'm waiting to turn right at a T junction when lady cyclist tootles towards me, being nearly 60feet long and 11feet wide I wait until she passes only for her to turn into my road with no indication whatsoever, my wound down window came in handy as I shouted the name of an old charades show hosted by Michael Aspel

 

[Robert-Black]

Where I live, there are cycle lanes next to the road but not on it, but a fair percentage of riders still choose to still ride in the road ??? Rain or shine.
Although I find cyclists only usually a minor irritant as a motorist, I find them a major annoyance as a pedestrian in the city.

 

[Dieselman]

Although I find cyclists only usually a minor irritant as a motorist, I find them a major annoyance as a pedestrian in the city.

How come if they are riding on the road?

 

[219]

Some , but by no means all , not only disregard the red traffic signals for vehicles but will ride across when the 'green man' is showing for pedestrians to cross the road - I have had to jump back more than once because of such inconsiderate bike riders , worst being the one who shouted at me , as I crossed on the green man , " Oi - watch out - this hasn't got any brakes ! "

 

[Stratman]

Being a motorist truckers are the bane of my life. You follow one along a road for miles, crawling along at little over walking pace, and when there's a bit of dual carriageway it then pulls out to crawl past the lorry in front except if often fails to make it in the two mile length of dual carriageway, so it pulls back in behind having heroically prevented any car from passing his slow, smokey and smelly lorry.


See, we can all generalise.

 

[Airbag]

Went cycling with the bike club in London yesterday. The biggest hazard to cyclists are often pedestrians with wires coming out of their ears. They just walk out onto the road.

No major traumas yesterday, but the speed of cars swerving around cyclists in Earl's Court 30mph areas has to be seen to be believed. 30 limit = so what? If we get clipped by a car doing 40/50 mph we're going to die. Just thought I'd mention it. Oh, and cyclists own Mercedes' too, but don't park them in bike lanes. (hint)

Portsmouth introduced a blanket 20 mph limit, when, last year? The early news was that lowering the speed limit didn't reduce the accident rate, I wonder if that's still true?